Category Archives: project logs

Tiny CNC-bot for under $70

The developers over at Piccolo are working on a CNC-bot designed to draw small pictures, and which could be reprogrammed for other purposes. According to the developers, “We are currently refining the Piccolo prototype into an open-source design that is simple, quick to assemble, and easy to use, and is entirely composed of digitally manufactured […]

Connecting a smart house over the CAN bus

Rynius has been working on his CAN house project. The CAN bus is a multi-master serial protocol that was initially designed for integrating sensors and microcontrollers in vehicles. I’m trying to automate my house using a CAN-bus. The first phase is two nodes, one at the front to collect data, and one in the kitchen […]

Remote controlled balancing robot using mbed MCU

Kristian Lauszus updates us on this remote controllable balancing robot project. In development of this project, Kristian created the PS3 Bluetooth Library both for Arduino and the FEZ Devices. However, not content with the performance of the FEZ, an mbed microcontroller, which is an ARM Cortex-M3 running 96MHz, has been incorporated into the latest design. […]

Another DIY magnetic rotary encoder with the AS5043

Here’s another take on a breakout for the magnetic rotary encoder AS5043 IC: Just wanted to show my take on the AS5043. Double sided PCB by Seed, Voltage regulator onboard, one LED for power on, the other for magnetic range output. This chip measures the surrounding magnetic field and outputs a serial and analog reading […]

MUN Sailbot autonomous sailboat

Jordan S (who scored one of our VFD tube sets) is part of a bunch of students from Memorial University, St.John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, trying to build an autonomous sailboat instead of focusing on their studies. Their project is known as Munsailbot. “As a team we are designing, fabricating and programming a fully autonomous vessel which […]

FT232BL USB to serial breakout board

Dchcaracter built a breakout board for the common FT232BL USB to UART IC. Most hardware sellers have one in the $10-$15 range. He released his design files in the forum. The board has the following features: Jumper-selected slave scheme voltage: 5V or 3,3V (50mA max) RTS is out (with a wire cut, can be changed […]

Vetinari’s random-tick clock

Mick decided to build Vetinari’s clock based on WaitingForFridays project. Lord Vetinari, from the Discworld book series, has a clock in his office that is designed to make his visitors feel uncomfortable by having the second hand move at irregular intervals while still keeping exact time. The erratic second hand in Mick’s project is driven […]

The “MOTHER” of all hackerspace automation systems

Jonathan of LVL1 Hackerspace informs us of their latest project. “MOTHER is LVL1’s attempt to create the ultimate hackerspace A.I. and automation system. The MOTHER project is still in it’s early stages yet MOTHER has already gained the ability to monitor and control a MASSIVE numbers of sensors as well as become a central integration […]

Open source micro-ampmeter with autorange

Here’s an open-source micro-ampmeter with autorange. It can measure current from 0.05μA to 10mA. It’s designed on a single layer PCB, making it easy to build with DIY etching techniques: The micro-ampermeter described here is intended for experimenting with low-power devices. I have just a general multi-meter in my home lab, which is not very […]

512K SRAM memory module with 13 pin interface

An open source 512K SRAM memory module for adding extra ram to your project: I have designed a very simple PCB module that allows access to 512KBytes of Static RAM.  It is compatible with any microcontroller with at least 13 free digital IO pins and the ability to run from a 3.3v or 5v supply. […]

Mac floppy emu prototype

Steve at Big Mess o’ Wires has resumed work on his Macintosh floppy drive emulator project. Previously he had developed the project on a breadboard using an Altera EPM7128S CPLD and an Atmel ATMEGA32u4 microcontroller. Now he has assembled it on a project board and updated some of his components. He writes: The firmware has […]

Reciprocal frequency counter

Alan built a reciprocal frequency counter. What sets reciprocal counters apart is that they adjust to the signal measured, sort of an auto-ranging feature. It is AVR based and automatically enables or disables a prescaler to handle frequencies from 0.5 Hz to 100 MHz. It can give the same precision whether the signal is fast […]

Experimenting with buck DC/DC converters

Mike wanted to build a DC-DC buck converter. He didn’t stop at building one, he wanted to perfect it. So he built it on a breadboard and started experimenting. By exchanging various components and watching a scope for results, he was able to get the results he was looking for. The buck converter takes a […]

Monitoring battery voltage to calculate capacity with an Arduino

Eric built himself a battery monitoring system based on the ATmega328 Development Kit he received as a prize in our 7400 contest. He drained a 9V battery with 100mA of current and monitored the voltage drop until total depletion. He used this data to estimate how much time is left until depletion. The 100mA constant […]

SARduino: An Arduino compatable development board

Andrew built these two Arduino compatible development boards. One is designed for ATmega328, and the other for an ATmega644 based projects. The boards have breakout areas for the microcontroller as well as for SOIC(W), SOT-23-6, and SC-70 type packages. He also added a perfboard type area for prototyping. SARduino (that is, “Space-Age-Robotics-duino”) is an open […]

LiPo USB charger using the MCP73831

Paul Asselin has written a description of his design of a USB Lithium Polymer battery charger. I wanted to build a cheap USB LiPo charger and didn’t like the unavailability nor the price of the Maxim’s MAX1555. Searching for something better, I stumbled upon the Microchip MCP73831. It is still way too expensive in single […]

LED covered ball with mic, Bluetooth, and an accelometer

Charlie built a ball covered with LEDs, unfortunately he didn’t leave much information about his project. What we do know is that it features a mic, Bluetooth, accelerometer to control the LEDs. It also has a built in rechargeable battery. We invite him to share more information about his project. Via the forum.

Control your garage door via WiFi interface

This WiFi garage door controller is based on an RN-XV WiFi module, a small WiFi capable microcontroller with 8 GPIOs, and 3 ADCs. The inspiration for this project was simple. My daughter has a habit of forgetting her house key, and we’ve had mixed results with the wireless garage door opener keypad. Time for a […]